from RT:
Pavel Durov has said that French intelligence tried to censor conservatives on the platform during election campaign season
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused French President Emmanuel Macron of detaining Telegram founder Pavel Durov for the purpose of interfering with the electoral processes in Romania.
The accusation comes shortly after Durov claimed that French authorities had enquired with him regarding the issue.
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“It turns out that Macron had Durov arrested not even to address internal issues with the messenger using such barbaric methods, but to influence the elections in Romania, realizing that the candidate from the liberal dictatorship wouldn’t be able to win under any legal circumstances,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
On Saturday, Durov said, citing Romanian journalist Marius Tuca, that Nicolas Lerner, the head of France’s foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE, had visited the country just two days before the vote.
Earlier this month, Durov revealed that Lerner had asked him to censor conservative voices on the social media platform during the election campaign in Romania. The agency has publicly denied the allegation. Durov in turn accused French authorities of deflecting criticism by linking him to unrelated criminal investigations involving users of his platform.
Durov was arrested in France last August and charged with complicity in crimes allegedly carried out by Telegram users. The Russian-born entrepreneur, whose company is headquartered in Dubai, was ultimately released on €5 million ($5.46 million) bail and allowed to leave the country in mid-March.
